Friday, 19 July 2019

A report of some twenty odd Tree Sparrows feeding near Shifford Church on the blog today brought the following response from me. The area mentioned is part of the Oxford Ornithological Society Tree Sparrow Project and is fed by our Chairman Alan Larkman he along with other dedicated supporters of the project have spent many years doing the best we can for this threatened small farmland bird and have taken this project from a few Oxfordshire stragglers to what we believe is a fairly stable population. We have a couple of sites where at the end of the breeding season there can be as many as 1,000 birds on site . I have blogged this, as the comments section on the blog seems unable to cope with comments. The Oxon Feather.

Tuesday, 2 July 2019

A couple of days ago I took up an invitation to meet with "The Friends OF Farmoor Group" this new organisation is all about appreciating and making the most of what Farmoor has to offer and as most of us know it has so much to offer from the Sailing Club,The Fishery and the abundant wildlife that Hanna Jenkins the Pinkhill wildlife officer oversees. We met inHacketts the coffee/restaurant facility and the enthusiasm was quite literally infectious and it quickly became apparent that the some dozen or so sat round the table sipping their beverages were not going to be fair weather friends as they demonstrated their commitment and dedication with the thoughts and dreams of how to maximise the enjoyment that they intend to bring about. From a birders point of view it was so good to see that our own favourite birder Dai is a member and will no doubt be fighting for the birds that grace this Avian hotspot including the many rarities that make this site one of the most interesting in Oxfordshire.
There is a Farmoor Open Day this Saturday 6th July and please - please Oxon Birders do come along to the Oxford Ornithological Society stand that will be in the marque the other side of the rangers office, Alan Larkman and myself will be manning our display and I can't tell you how much more enjoyable these events are when we see fellow birders and are able to chew the fat.
I have posted a few photos of things that have caught my eye in the County recently.

Monday, 20 May 2019

I have missed some really good birds recently due to being tied up visiting other places, I prefer to go to quieter sites that other birders don't cover and I personally get more of a kick finding my own rarities, although in all truthfulness finding commonplace nature is my biggest turn on if I find it doing well, unfortunately many things are increasingly doing less well.
My garden is host to a Blackbird with a white flash through its forehead and the rather obvious nickname of Badger, this bird is feeding youngsters made obvious by its frequent visits to claim any titbits thrown on the lawn, also a pair of Robins have reared a brood in a nest built in Ivy close to my front door . Greenfinches have raised a brood close by as the young are coming to my feeders and its close relative the Bullfinch was spotted on a walk over part of my late Dads farm between Challow Station and Sparsholt where I saw Peacock,Common Blue, Holly Blue and Small Tortoiseshell Butterflies.
The now virtually dried out Shellingford Pit is a local wildlife disaster due to the draining in the near vicinity by gravel extraction. This site was building up to be an important refuge for a wide variety of Dragonflies but big business has killed them off. The Cinnabar Moth and a pair of English Partridges was all I found there. Thank goodness the plant life is still interesting and presently still holding on.
The Oxon Feather.

Thursday, 9 May 2019

At last nights OOS AGM, Stalwart of the birders curry evenings Tom Bedford gave a superb talk on his previous birding patch at Cuddeston. His talk included a most interesting appraisal of the Green Belt and its failings and also the rarer birds he had managed to "turn up" on his mainly intensively farmed locality. My thanks to Tom for this most entertaining and informative insight into his birding life and if he has more to say and I think he has I am hopeful that he will be talking to us again. The Feather.

Monday, 6 May 2019

Rambled along the road that runs from The Blowing Stone to Seven Barrows, this road is usually good for Corn Bunting and yesterday it also turned up several pairs of Orange Tip Butterflies.
My computer has been on the blink due to my cleaning the keypad that had become dirty, overdone things a bit and a new keypad has resulted in a spend of 79 Quid .
Please make a point of coming along to the Oxford Ornithological Society Annual General Meeting when our own Tom Bedford of 'Birders night curry fame' will be giving a talk and our chairman Alan Larkman will also be talking , probably giving an update on the state of play of our Tree Sparrow project and an insight into the City Farm Project.
The Feather.